Monday, July 23, 2012

Summer Vacation: Day 7 & 8

Friday we left Massachusetts. With our newly-acquired passports in hand, we were ready to head North and cross the border into Canada! I'm pretty sure breakfast was the last of the fruit and probably some oats but there's no picture to document! Lunch in the car was mainly veggies from the fridge that needed eaten up, along with the last of the homemade snack mix.

After we checked in to our hotel, we got a shuttle over to Niagara Falls though we probably could have walked because we could see them from our hotel room. Mike got us an awesome corner room with a view.

We hopped on the Maid of the Mist. With it's snaking, ramped entryway made to hold hundreds of peple I would hate to see this place when it is really busy! It reminded me of the queue areas at DisneyWorld, except not expertly themed to entertain you while you wait. Luckily, we whizzed right through to the boat.

The ponchos were kind of silly! The wind blows it around so much, my head and legs were WET but at least my torso staid dry. It was a complete giggle-fest once the wind and water started whipping around!

After Maid of the Mist, we walked up Clifton Hill (which is like a cross between Las Vegas and a carnival midway) and rode the SkyWheel. I was pretty surprised that Mike agreed to ride but the view is amazing!

Here we are in the Skywheel. Does it look like he's enjoying it or grimacing and gripping the seat for dear life?

That night we watched the illuminated falls from our room and ate dinner which was a combination of things we brought along (Dr. McDougall split pea soup cup) and things we got at a grocery store (veggie spring roll sushi and Smarties).

Saturday morning I enjoyed the hotel's gym, which included some fancy treadmills and free weights. I did some intervals on the treadmill and then did this workout I had printed out. I had packed a band but I also used the free weights since they were there! After a shower and some hotel-room-coffee-pot oatmeal, it was time to pack up and leave. We did manage to catch an episode of The Littlest Hobo on tv so I think we got quite a Canadian experience packed into less than 24 hours.

At lunchtime we stopped at Dagwood's Deli in Lapeer, MI. It was a cute little place and attached to Blondie's Sweet Boutique. I was dubious of the menu which had very few veg options and tentatively asked if they would me make just a cheese sandwich. The sweetest server asked if I was vegetarian and explained that she was too and that they could make a sandwich with all the veggies I wanted and this awesome pesto!

So that's what I had. On marble rye with a pickle on the side. Plus a couple of cookies for the road. Of course, then we had to go and check out the Sweets Boutique and I ended up with a sugar cone filled with mint chocolate chip! Thus began my downward spiral into car snacking hell. I don't even remember any of it but I know I ate far too much just because the drive was kind of long and what else is there to do? But anyway! We got back into town around 7 pm on Saturday and it was SO NICE not to have loads and loads of laundry to do thanks to the washer and dryer in the apartment. This was a fantastic trip, I LOVED having a home base that was more like home than a hotel room! We ticked off quite a few states from our list of places to visit and visited an entirely different country! Next step, a country that is not contiguous to the USA!